perk up
to make or become more cheerful, hopeful, or lively
to rise or cause to rise briskly: the dog's ears perked up
(tr) to make smarter in appearance: she perked up her outfit with a bright scarf
(intr) Australian slang to vomit
Origin of perk up
1Words Nearby perk up
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
How to use perk up in a sentence
“If you avoid getting caught, a little affair can perk up a marriage,” says Lucy, a 50-something Californian.
And yet we find your partnerships perk up, while the single among you are being solicited for more than just a vacant tryst.
The senses immediately perk up with the new smells, faint sounds of music and colors meant to belong in nature.
They perk up wonderfully as the barometer falls and the damp makes itself felt in their warm cases of glass.
Motor Matt's Peril, or, Cast Away in the Bahamas | Stanley R. MatthewsAfter lunch he would always begin to perk up and deny that he had been really drunk the night before.
L'Assommoir | Emile Zola
In lifting her arms to perk up the bow at her throat she knocked a hat off the bracket.
An Old-fashioned Girl | Louisa May AlcottBut, in this other lot, the shoots are commencin' to perk up, an' insec's have stirred the mold.
The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley | Louis TracyAunty Rose declared that Carolyn May began at once to perk up.
Carolyn of the Corners | Ruth Belmore Endicott
Other Idioms and Phrases with perk up
Restore to good spirits, liveliness, or good appearance, as in You're exhausted, but a cup of tea will perk you up, or The flowers perked up the whole room. [Mid-1600s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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